CSR: Jaipur Rugs Weaving Redemption this Republic Day with Manchaha Freedom
Family-run business Jaipur Rugs has been working towards bridging the gap between the weaver at the grassroots and the urban consumers through the revival of the dying art of carpet weaving. As an inclusive development practitioner committed to promoting creativity everywhere it goes, especially in places where others are reluctant to venture, Jaipur Rugs is working with close to 100 inmates across Jaipur Central Jail, Bikaner Central Jail and Dausa Central Jail to provide them with meaningful and fulfilling work by teaching them the art of carpet weaving.
The Freedom Manchaha collection is an ode to these inmates who want to express themselves creatively and still support their families through the odds. This collection is available online starting Republic Day, January 26.
Crime tends to go hand-in-hand with poverty and illiteracy, and imprisonment makes the lives of the families of inmates even more difficult, especially if the one incarcerated is the breadwinner. One way to change this destructive cycle is economic empowerment. Jaipur Rugs feels that the capacity to imagine brings motivation, which then adds to the prestige and prosperity of individuals, if nurtured appropriately.
“Let goodness, fairness and, most importantly, love prevail in business. Profits will inevitably follow,” says N K Chaudhary, Founder, Jaipur Rugs Company. “This innovative initiative by Jaipur Rugs and the Prison Department is much needed. Through this, prison inmates are trained in rug weaving and production and their efforts get appreciated globally, leading the way for reformations. The earnings from this initiative help the families of the inmates. Additionally, 25% of the earned income goes to their families,” says Rakesh Mohan, Jail Superintendent, Jaipur Central Jail.
Jaipur Rugs also helps inmates open bank accounts to receive payments for their work directly, which makes it easy for them and their families to access their earnings. Ordinarily, inmates are given work that lacks purpose to keep them occupied. It undermines their potential and eventually leads to an inability and unwillingness to work. Through the initiative by Jaipur Rugs, in which training and workshops are conducted and a source of income is generated, these inmates get access to socio-economic development and are empowered through support and sustainable livelihood.
What is Machaha?
Manchaha, a Hindi word popular in Rajasthan’s weaving community, means “expression of my heart”, and is a sustainable development initiative where weavers get to design their own rug for the first time in Rajasthan. It taps into the untamed fashion in rural India by nurturing their creative potential and transforms a community from exploitation to empowerment. Each rug, handmade with more than 200,000 knots, is the story of its creator – with emotions, dreams, and personality.
This social innovation has uniquely sustained the dying art of hand-knotting by renewing its passion, through unfiltered expression. It has targeted economic transformation through sustainable income and instilling confidence. Each rug is also made using leftover hand-spun yarn – wool & bamboo silk, which reduces industry-wide wastage that had previously no solution – and makes its colour palette as unique as its design. It is a remarkable example of sustainable production – reusing and revival from waste, the problem becoming its own solution.
The initiative has now bended bars and reached out to prisoners in Jaipur and Bikaner, Manchaha Freedom. The capacity to imagine motivates, and adds to prestige and prosperity if nurtured appropriately. This changes the destructive cycle of crime through poverty and illiteracy and creates a society where equality, justice and peace prevail.
Conceptualised by Kavita Chaudhary (Design Director, Jaipur Rugs), the Manchaha initiative has won eight prestigious global design awards such as the German Design Award, EDIDA (ELLE DECOR Design Award), and European Product Design Award, all while going up against mega design houses and billion-dollar product companies from across the globe.
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